The Benefits of Family
by IsleofSkye
Summary: Deals with the aftermath of 'Vendetta' so, spoilers for that. It also discusses Claudia's abandonment issues and deals with the 'Todd' thing and Artie's slight torture.


**AN: Spoilers for 'Vendetta' which I thought was great. I loved that they explained why he was convicted of treason, that he wasn't really a turncoat, but was saving his family. After Todd gets moved by the US Marshals, I feel like Claudia would've had quite the reaction to finding out that Artie almost left her, too. That being said, this takes place right after Russia, but before HG Wells gets reinstated. And Artie doesn't know about Todd yet. **

He watched as across the table, as a petty argument between Pete and Myka took another step into childish when Pete took his spoon and flung mashed potatoes into Myka's eyes. Artie could feel his mouth drop open as a look of pure rage began to form on her face. Even Pete had the good sense to immediately start apologizing.

"Myka, I'm sorry. It just, you know, slipped." He shrugged his shoulders and looked sheepish, and slightly pale, obviously recalling the time where Alice had inhabited Myka's body and severely kicked his ass. He seemed to shrink in on himself when he watched her stand up abruptly. Then, quicker than either of them thought possible, she lifted the entire bowl of mashed potatoes off the table and smooshed it onto Pete's head. Standing back to admire her handiwork, she smirked, hummed her approval and then sauntered upstairs. Artie didn't know whether the scold her or clap. His utterly brilliant mind came up with the fact that Pete would probably want revenge, which would then result in a prank war, and when you work where they did, that was a recipe for disaster. So, he decided to nip this one in the bud.

"Pete, if you try to get revenge, I will have you be Claudia's personal servant for a week." Pete, who was gingerly lifting the bowl off his head, looked at him with an expression that had Artie thinking he was going to start stomping his foot. He got up in a huff and wandered upstairs mumbling "teacher's pet" under his breath. Artie chuckled quietly at their antics, but stopped abruptly when he heard Claudia screeching upstairs.

"Pete! You got potatoes all over me!"

"Well, Myka got them all over me, so I just thought I'd share the love." Which was then followed by a loud oomph, from what Artie could only assume was either Claudia punching him in the stomach or hitting him in the face with a pillow.

"Ouch Claud! Don't you think I've been beaten up enough today as it is?" So, she had punched him. Actually, that makes sense; she wouldn't want her pillow covered in mashed potato, too.

"Why don't you get on out of my room, and you won't suffer anymore. And take a shower, those potatoes make you smell like garlic." He heard her stomp down the hallway and start down the stairs.

"Hey ya geezer. Whatcha doin'?" Claudia plopped down in the chair next to him pulling her plate closer to the edge of the table. Her hair was still damp from a shower, which she'd insisted on having before dinner.

"Well, I was eating before Pete pissed Myka off."

"And me. I happen to love mashed potatoes, just not on my person. Especially right after a shower." She shook her hair as if to emphasize her point and sprayed him with water droplets.

"Watch it." He pushed his plate back from in front of him and pulled a file out of his bag. But he didn't open it, he just put it on the table as something merely to keep his hands busy. He looked at Claudia and watched her shovel food into her mouth as if it were going out of style. He started shifting around, wondering how he was going to broach the subject of his past with her. Keeping secrets was something he was trying to not do, especially with his young surrogate daughter. He felt that she deserved to know that while 'Arthur Weisfelt' may have been convicted of treason, it wasn't for what Myka and Pete had quickly assumed was the reason. He may have been a traitor in the eyes of the US, but it was for the right reasons.

"Stop squirming, and just tell me what's on your mind." He quickly glanced up and found her staring at him, fork halfway to her mouth. "Obviously you're uncomfortable about something, and as long as you don't start trying to give me 'the talk' again, I'm okay with whatever you want to say."

He wasn't surprised that she called him out, that's just who she was and he loved her for it. He was slightly embarrassed at her mentioning his extremely fumbled attempt at telling her she had every right to go out with whoever she wanted and that he'd be there for her if she needed something. He hadn't had to deal with teenage girls for a long time and he definitely hadn't dealt with any that were looking to him for guidance.

"Well, I wanted to tell you about why we were in Moscow."

"I know the gist of it. Someone used Torquemada's chain to kill Myka and Pete's old boss and that the trail took you to Russia. I kind of ignored the finer details because I had my own investigation going."

"We'll talk about that in a second. When I was in my 20's I worked for NSA…"

"Wait, you did? Maybe I should've dug a little further into your past when I was basically, well actually, stalking you. How'd you get this gig? Because I thought that this was a Secret Service kinda thing?"

"If you'd _not_ interrupt me, I'd tell you." She rolled her eyes at his sarcasm.

"Geez, okay old man…" She trailed off as she caught sight of the matching bruises on his wrists. "What're those?" Her voice jumped an octave as she grabbed his hands and pulled them closer to her.

"Again, the _reason_ I was in Moscow. When I was in the NSA…" He trailed off when he saw tears start to stream down her cheeks. He could count on one hand the number of times that he'd seen her cry and he honestly didn't know how to handle it.

"Claudia…" He twisted his wrists and tried to grab her hands letting instinct guide him where experience could not.

"No Artie, tell my why you have matching bruises on your wrists, first! And a split lip. AND a knot on your forehead?" Each word coming out in a higher pitch than the previous one. "What happened in Moscow?" Before he had a chance to answer, Pete came down the stairs and answered for him.

"Well, when we found out that the people Artie traded artifacts to for US secrets had a list of his family from Russia that he'd helped escape, we hopped a flight to Moscow where Artie was kidnapped, manacled to support beams in an abandoned warehouse and slightly tortured until H.G. got him unchained. But I saved his life. I came in, Tesla blazing, and zapped old Alexi's son right before he could use Torquemada's chain to kill Artie." All of which he told dramatically with his hands gesticulating wildly. Not once did he look at Claudia's face, which was becoming more and more horrified by the second. She whipped her head around and looked at Artie, eyes welling with tears and her chin quivering.

"Claudia, this is what I was trying to tell you; albeit, much more delicately, without the word torture and definitely without the world kill," which he said while glaring daggers at Pete. She shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks, yanked her hands out of Artie's and ran up the stairs. She brushed by a stunned Pete who couldn't understand why she wasn't excited that he'd come in, guns blazing, as previously stated and despite Artie's earlier protests, and saved the day.

Artie was in shock. Why she was so upset? It wasn't as if this was the first time he'd been in a dangerous situation, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. He tried to go back over what they'd talked about to see if he'd missed something.

"Is she okay?" Pete asked while looking up the stairs. He may be slightly clueless, but he doesn't like to upset his little sister (he's decided to count her one of his sisters because if anyone hurt her, he'd beat them up, just like a big brother should).

"I don't know. One minute she was eating and I was talking, and then she was crying and running."

"Ohhh. Would this have to do with Todd being in the Witness Protection Program and getting moved and having his name changed? Because, that'll put quite the damper on a budding relationship."

"What?" He covered his mouth with his right hand. "But, wasn't she avoiding him earlier? They were back to a 'budding relationship'?"

"Yeah, I overheard her talking to Leena about it. Apparently he's in the Witness Protection program, is on the run from a mobster, and is actually a 'techie'" he demonstrated by pantomiming air-quotes, "just like her. I didn't want to say anything to her though. I probably would've made it worse. Kinda like I just did…" His voice petered out as his realization dawned on him. He smacked his forehead. "Dammit."

"Yeah." Artie stood up; he needed to go check on her.

'He was tortured? What the frak!' What would she have done if he'd been killed? It'd be like Joshua all over again, except without the 12 year later happy reunion. She ran into her room and slammed the door, hard. She paced the floor next to her bed thinking about the past day she'd had. 'And, all of this on top of Todd being moved and his name changed with the possibility of concrete Nikes in his future. That little crack he'd made about "living to testify" certainly hadn't made her feel better.' Her mind starting to scramble for ways to protect herself from the inevitable hurt that would come from Artie's death and the only solution her panic-stricken mind was to get out for a little bit. She'd come back when her mind was once again clear and focused. Right now, she needed space, away from people who would constantly be on her case about 'being okay' and how it was 'better to have loved…' and other clichés. Maybe she'd hit Vegas up again, she wouldn't mind the extra spending money. She grabbed a bag and started throwing clothes into it, not even taking care to actually look at what she was packing.

"Claudia." She heard Artie's voice through the door.

"Nuts." She grabbed the bag and tried to hide it under the bed, knowing that he was going to just walk in. However, she wasn't quick enough, her tears blurring her vision, and Artie caught her kicking at it when it wouldn't cooperate.

"Running, huh?" Just like she'd done to him earlier, he called her out when he caught her.

"Don't know what you're talking about." She stopped kicking and sat heavily on the bed, facing away from Artie so he couldn't see her tears.

"I'm sorry Claudia, I just heard about Todd."

"Yeah, you know. Like I said to you when we first met, I'm used to it. Well, the people leaving part, not the being in Witness Protection part. That was new. I can add that to the repertoire now."

"Claudia…"

"And torture!" she continued sarcastically, as she jumped up and began paced around her room. "Torture is a new method of removing oneself from my presence, if a little drastic. The pattern is starting to show now; I get close to people, I let them in, and then, BAM! They have mobsters after them or get tortured while manacled. What it all boils down to is that in the end, I'm alone." Her voice cracked as the weight of the emotions crashed over her, buckling her knees. However, for the first time when she had one of the panic attacks, someone was there to catch her when she fell.

He watched as she basically raced from end of the room to the either talking loudly as she described how she'd been abandoned since she was a small child. And with every word he could feel his heart break a little more. He'd been one of those people that had left her and he hated himself for it. He honestly didn't know what he would've done with a 12 year old girl who'd just lost her brother on top of her parents in a span of only a few years. But he should've done something, anything other than just disappearing the next day. He was snapped out of his self-flagellation when he heard Claudia's breathing speed up and her breaths becoming shallow. Her pacing stuttered to a stop as her struggle for breath took over her mind. He jumped forward and grabbed her as she fell.

'God, she's skinny,' was one of the first thoughts that had popped into his head as he swung her up into his arms. He wasn't exactly a strong or agile man, but when the situation called for it, he got whatever needed to get done, done. He walked over to the bed and sat down, with her back against his chest. He splayed his palm over the top of her chest, near her collar bone and applied slight pressure.

"Breathe with me Claudia. Calm down and breathe with me." For several minutes he kept up this mantra, murmuring into her ear as he tried to slow her breathing. He used his hand to help control her breaths, trying to guide her inhalations to match his. His other hand grasping one of hers, squeezing tightly to let her know he was here. Finally, the shallow breaths got deeper. Once her breathing was more regular, she turned in him arms.

"Artie, you can't just leave me like that. Ever. Do you understand? I wasn't kidding when I said "father-figure" in the diner. I've never been happier then I have been here. I love that my intense zaniness doesn't make anyone here blink an eye. It doesn't matter that the stripe in my hair changes color like a mood-ring, no one judges me. I'm just me and I've never been more thankful. You're the reason for that! You took me in, a 19 year old girl who grew up too soon and _finally_ gets to just be a kid, in a family." She faltered on family and bit her lip, trying furiously to keep the tears at bay.

Through this whole tirade, Artie's heart mended just a little. She was right, they were a family, and it made a warmth spread through his chest at the thought. He looked at her, with her hair everywhere, her nose running, and her eyes red-rimmed and saw this beautiful girl that had softened his heart. Where years of experience with the world had created a hard outer shell as self-preservation, Claudia had stormed through with her electrified handcuffs and made him see the world anew. "Claudia, I never, ever meant to make you think I was leaving you. Death, while a natural part of life, isn't high on my list of to-dos right now. How could I leave? I have this vibrant, amazing, crazy, loving young woman who is depending on me to be there when she wakes up in the morning and give her advice when I really have no clue what to say."

"For someone who doesn't know what to say, you're doing a great job right now." She gave his hand a small squeeze.

"Yes, well, never let it be said that I don't perform well under pressure." The smile in response to that made the spark come back to her eyes. "Well, what I'm trying to tell you, is that, well…" He was fumbling again and he needed to be strong and say it with confidence so that it left not a shadow of a doubt in her mind that his words were true. "What I'm saying is that I love you. You have become the daughter that I never thought I'd have. Just know, I will always try my damndest to come back to you. And I will most certainly always come for you when you're in trouble. Even if you hit me with a piece of wood," which earned him a smirk. "Just, promise me you won't run when you get scared. Or if you do, run to me. I'll fix whatever it is that's happening or about to happen. And, if its warehouse related, I promise I will go more lenient on the groundations if you come to me first instead of trying to fix it yourself." She snorted at this comment, remembering Volta's lab coat.

"I knew you were a big softie, old man." The reversion back to pet names, however insulting, made him realize that she was going to be okay. He pulled her close and hugged her to his chest, letting her know he wasn't just placating her. In the midst of the embrace, he heard a small sniffle coming from the general direction of the door and looked up. To his surprise, it came from Pete, not Myka, who were both standing on the hallway side of the doorjamb. Claudia, sensing something amiss, twisted in his arms to see what he was looking at.

"We love you too, Claudia. Just yesterday Pete was talking about how he considered you his little sister and he said he would open a can of whoop-ass on whoever hurt, tried to hurt, or thought about hurting you." She glanced at Pete to make sure she'd gotten the quote right and he nodded his head in affirmation. "And I've never had a little sister, and would be honored if I could consider you mine." Artie peered at Claudia's face and watched it contort just a little as she realized what this meant. She would always have a place here, and nothing was going to change that. She leapt out of his arms and threw herself across the room at Pete and Myka. Both of which, caught her, letting out small huffs of air as it was knocked from the lungs by the exuberant teen.

"I love you guys." They all shared a group hug, looking more like a Claudia sandwich then anything.

"What we came up here to tell you is that Pete wanted to apologize for putting his big foot in his mouth about Artie." She gave him a slight shove into the room.

"Yeah, Claud, you know me. Not exactly known for thinking before I speak." Not for the first time today, he looked sheepish and apologetic.

"Pete, don't worry about it man. My brain had just short circuited from this whole 'Todd' thing and didn't handle other stimuli very well. Artie getting torture," she paused and gave him a look that said, 'we'll talk about that later,' "was just the last straw on the proverbial camel."

"Understandable," was the response that came from Myka, who was also a tad distraught at the idea of Artie's torture.

"Okay, now that I've thoroughly and utterly embarrassed myself in front of everyone except Leena and Mrs. Frederick, I think that I'm going to go to bed. Airing one's insecurities, while always fun, is slightly draining," sarcasm dripping from every word. However, it was Pete with the save, once again.

"Claud, we're family and we love you. It's what we're here for." He hugged her, dropped a quick peck on her forehead and headed out of the room leaving her beaming in his wake.

"Yeah, hon, don't ever feel nervous to talk to us about your problems. Family doesn't hold those against you." Myka also snagged her in a quick hug, and then followed Pete out. No doubt he was heading off in search of cookies.

Claudia sighed a happy/tired sigh as she thought of what everyone had said and how that went a long ways towards alleviating her abandonment issues. This was better than lying on a couch and paying someone to pretend to be interested in her problems. Why didn't more people do this?

"You gonna be okay, kiddo?" He tugged on her wrist and turned her around to face him, reminding her that he was still in the room.

"You know what, Geezer? I'm gonna be just fine." She smiled brightly at him, which he returned.

"Never thought you weren't. You just needed a little prodding in the right direction." He squeezed her wrist once, then let go.

"Prodding? We'll see who's being prodded tomorrow when we continue our chess game." She reached up and hugged him tightly, saying more in that hug then she could with words. He held her snuggly against his chest, understanding what she was trying to convey, then stood up to leave.

"I better go make sure the 'kids' go to bed soon. Who knows what they're doing to Leena's kitchen."

"Goodnight Artie. And, thanks… You have no idea what this means to me."

"'Night, kiddo. And believe it or not, I really do." He kissed her forehead and started out of the room.

"Oh, and Artie?" He stopped. "Love you, too." He smiled and continued walking.

After everyone was in bed, and the only sounds were of the trees swaying in the wind outside, Artie sat alone in the living room, staring out the window at a moonless night. He had no idea what had happened, but since Claudia, Pete, and Myka had come into his life, it had started getting better. They were a family, and he didn't know which surprised him more: that he hadn't noticed his defenses falling or that he absolutely loved it. No matter how annoyed or pissed off he may get, these few were people he knew, without a doubt, he would do anything for. It made him wish that he'd known about this earlier in his life, when Claudia was a young girl and on her own in a harsh world that had already shown her it's worst. He was happy he could make that right, now and that Pete and Myka were there to help her with things he couldn't. He was determined to show her that the world wasn't always ugly. And, where he'd never had anyone to focus his attentions on, other than warehouse agents, he now had a daughter he could dote upon. He smiled at that thought. Despite the hellish past few days, he found that he didn't mind that his real family thought he was dead, he had another family right here, a family which he loved without question.

**AN2: This thing kind of took on a life of its own. I didn't know where to end it, either. I'm so bad at finding a natural end to fics. I did my best, though. Also, I didn't really want to delve into the NSA/treason thing, that's a story in and of itself. After my last little drabble, and the decidedly not enough fic on this amazing tv show, I decided to contribute my own little Artie story because I think his character is brilliant. **


End file.
